The Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand is one of New Zealand's most important research publications, particularly for science. Contributors to the Transactions include James Hector, William Colenso, Charles Fleming, Thomas Hocken, and Ernest Rutherford.

The Royal Society (known as the New Zealand Institute before 1933) was established in 1867 to co-ordinate and assist the activities of a number of regional research societies including the Auckland Institute, the Wellington Philosophical Society and the Otago Institute. These societies often did not have the means to publish the papers that were presented to them or maintain a written record of their activities. The NZ Institute was set up to remedy this through the publication of a single volume of transactions and proceedings on their behalf.

This project has been carried out by the National Library in consultation with the Royal Society. The original volumes are from the collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library.